Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells formed acinar-like structure when stimulated with breast epithelial cells in three-dimensional culture

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 18;13(10):e0204077. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204077. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Lipotransfer has been applied in breast augmentation surgery for several years and the resident adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) play an important role in enhancing fat graft survival. However, the interaction between ASCs and mammary epithelium is not fully understood. Many studies have shown that ASCs have a tumor-supportive effect in breast cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the effect of mammary epithelial cells on the human ASCs in 3D culture. ASCs were cultivated on matrigel in the conditioned medium (CM) prepared from a human breast epithelial cell line (HBL-100). The ASCs formed KRT18-positive acini-like structures after stimulation with breast epithelial cells. The expression of epithelial genes (CDH1 and KRT18) was up-regulated while the expression of mesenchymal specific genes (CDH2 and VIM) was down-regulated as determined by qRT-PCR. The stemness marker (CD29) and angiogenic factors (CD31 and VEGF) were also down-regulated as examined by immunofluorescence. In addition, the CM obtained from HBL-100 enhanced the migration and inhibited the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs. These results demonstrate that ASCs have the ability to transform into epithelial-like cells when cultured with mammary epithelial cells. Given these observations, we infer that ASCs have a positive effect on lipotransfer, not only due to their ability to secrete growth factors, but also due to their direct participation in the formation of new breast tissue.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipocytes / cytology*
  • Adipocytes / metabolism
  • Antigens, CD / genetics
  • Breast / cytology*
  • Cadherins / genetics
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Coculture Techniques / methods*
  • Epithelial Cells / cytology
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Humans
  • Keratin-18 / genetics
  • Keratin-18 / metabolism
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Vimentin / genetics

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • CDH1 protein, human
  • CDH2 protein, human
  • Cadherins
  • KRT18 protein, human
  • Keratin-18
  • VIM protein, human
  • Vimentin

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the special research grant for non-profit public service (grant no.201502029) to Jiaming Sun; the Science Foundation of Wuhan Union Hospital (02.03.2015-61) to Jie Yang. This work was also supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81701922), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2017CFB263) and the Science Foundation of Wuhan Union Hospital (2016ZYCX034) to Zhenxing Wang and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81501688) to Quan Yuan.